


Gentle Breeze

by palladionaigis



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Canon-Compliant, Damn you Isayama, EreMika if you squint hard enough, Eren tries to act like he's not crying, I cried for an hour, I shat this out in ten minutes, M/M, Mikasa tries to pull it together, Post-Canon, Spoilers, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-13
Updated: 2016-06-13
Packaged: 2018-07-14 18:37:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7185455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/palladionaigis/pseuds/palladionaigis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T READ UP TO CHAPTER 82.</p><p>The air is salty, he can hear birds cawing overhead, the sun is blinding and making him sweat in his cloak... and his fingers tighten around the emblem in his palm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gentle Breeze

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not okay.
> 
> Honestly, I don't know if I'm ever gonna be okay, I thought Erwin losing his arm was bad, I thought learning about Levi's past was bad, now I'm just. My friend had to tell me to breathe and to get my dog because I was on the cusp of an emotional breakdown. Some tears and a few angry facebook messages later, I'm ready to go to bed and shitting this out before I fall into dreamland.

The air is salty, he can hear birds cawing overhead, the sun is blinding and making him sweat in his cloak... and his fingers tighten around the emblem in his palm.

_"When have I ever lied to you, Eren?"_

The words echo in his head like a firefly caught in a sealed jar, slowly fading away as it stops breathing, sinking to the bottom of the glass, its light slowly dying out. Armin was like that firefly to him. He peeks over his shoulder. He sees Mikasa, somewhere off behind him, looking up at a pure blue sky.

The color reminds her of Armin's eyes.

For Eren, this whole place just makes his chest hurt.

He's almost crying. He should be dead by now like the rest of his comrades. It's by sheer luck that he's survived. Mikasa was strong enough to have made it through all this, but Armin... Armin had everything. He had the brains, the strategy, the quick wit, everything...

Eren still blames himself.

He doesn't even realize he's taken his cloak and jacket off until Mikasa comes up next to him and does the same. They strip their boots off, take off their 3D gear (more just a transportation device now), and roll up their pant legs. It's entirely platonic when Mikasa laces her fingers through Eren's and they ignore the rest of their squad, whooping behind them and shedding everything but shirts and pants, running into the sand. They stand up to their ankles in the water for a long time, Eren's palm growing sweaty in Mikasa's hold from the heat. She doesn't mind.

One by one, the members of their squad (the ones who've survived, at least) come up to the pair and give some gesture of comfort. Sasha rubs Mikasa's shoulder for a few moments. Hanji ruffles Eren's hair and pats Mikasa's back, a sad smile on their face. Connie stands there with them in silence for a minute or so. Historia looks out at the horizon, then looks at Eren's tear-filled eyes.

"He's right here with you," she murmurs, and even though Eren knows it's impossible, it makes him feel better. "He's here with you, looking at the same sky, the same water... thanking you for bringing him here." Her hand brushes against Eren's, where he's holding the emblem from one of Armin's uniforms. She tries to smile, but it doesn't quite reach her eyes, and Eren suddenly wishes Historia didn't look so much like Armin. The blonde hair, the blue eyes... he can practically hear Armin's infectious laugh as Eren pictures the three of them, soaked in salt water, splashing each other, a small smile on Mikasa's face, peace in Eren's eyes, that tiny furrow between Armin's brows disappearing in the bright sun...

How has it already been so long?

"Time flies." Mikasa says softly, and then Eren realizes he'd said that out loud. She talks even less now, finding the notion a burden.

Levi comes up behind the both of them. He's changed a lot in the past few years, and a lot of it was from spending long nights trying to ignore the crying of the ever-persistent titan brat. He's not a stranger to the emotions Eren showed after Armin died. He'd felt them too, after Isabel and Farlan, and sometimes his chest still constricted if he thought about his mother long enough. 

"Don't mope," he says simply, and Eren turns his head, looking over into Levi's direction. In a rare display, Levi gives him a pat on the shoulder and the corner of his mouth twitches upwards. "He told you he'd see the ocean with you, and he is." He too does what Historia did and pried Eren's fingers off of the insignia in his hand. "See? He's been here with you the whole time. We all die, it's a stupid fact of life, but acting like an ass and standing here crying isn't going to help. Put on a smile, stop being so pathetic, and have some fun. You're doing wrong by him just standing there and brooding."

"He's right, Eren," Mikasa whispers just loud enough that Eren can hear her over the waves.

_"I told you, we're going to see the ocean together."_


End file.
